Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: December 17, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
12
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago TribuneRobert K. Elder
Exceptionally clever, hilariously gloomy and bitingly subversive. Read full review
80
NewsweekSean Smith
Pretty charming. Audiences may like it more than critics, but everyone should agree it's one of the most wickedly stylish movies of the year. Read full review
80
EmpireCaroline Westbrook
Silberling does a good job of introducing Snicket to the big screen in an impressive adaptation that’s always smart, even if it’s rarely spectacular. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Good movie, great fun. Read full review
80
Washington PostJennifer Frey
A gem of a movie, all its adversity and wickedness a backdrop for a story about the remarkable resilience of children Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Carrey is a bit of a conundrum: He's the best and worst thing about Lemony Snicket. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Manages to remain witty throughout. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
A pessimistic chronicle that even optimistic 8-year-olds can love. Read full review
75
PremierePeter Debruge
An astounding achievement in production design, an original creation so completely in tune with the books' macabre sensibilities that even the movie's (arguably) happy ending can't diminish its satisfying sense of schadenfreude. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
A work of wonderfully sinister fantasy. Director Brad Silberling is always mindful of his kiddie audience -- the movie is never even remotely scary. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The film's no masterpiece, but at least you're in the hands of people who know what they're doing. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
Much credit for this delightfully morose children's film must go to director Brad Silberling's careful orchestration. Please note, in the vocabulary-building spirit of the Snicket books, that the word "orchestration'' here means "coaxing good performances out of child actors and keeping Jim Carrey in check.'' Read full review
70
VarietyScott Foundas
Snicket's macabre tale of three newly orphaned siblings has been lavishly visualized. But for all its elaborate splendor, production pic lacks the feeling and imagination that have distinguished the best recent kidpics. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
At its best, A Series Of Unfortunate Events is the stuff nightmares are made of, a sick joke of a film that realizes the best children's entertainment doesn't hide from the bleaker side of life, but plunges into the void and respects kids enough to assume they can handle it. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Just might be Jim Carrey's finest screen role...The rest of the movie, however, isn't quite up to Carrey's level. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Carrey's relentless showboating is almost its undoing. Read full review
70
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
Successful in kicking off a largely amusing and visually engaging franchise. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
In time, Carrey's monkeyshines, Jude Law's silhouetted reappearances as Snicket, and the inevitable descent of Beverly Hills pathos blunt the movie's fastidious dark-carnival humor. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
A visually arresting and entertaining romp, but it lacks some of the sardonic humor of the popular children's books on which the movie is based. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
A series of unfortunate events occurred during the making of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and they all had to do with Jim Carrey. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
If you wanted this "Snicket" movie (and the presumed flood of sequels) to be faithful to the novels, you have come to the wrong franchise. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
There is no one in the movie to provide a reasonable reaction to anything; the adults are all demented, evil, or, in the case of Mr. Poe, stunningly lacking in perception, and the kids are plucky enough, but rather dazed by their misfortunes. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Though rich in visual style, the movie is unbalanced in performances and script, ranging, from scene to scene, from go-for-baroque grandeur to strident excess. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
A lavishly mounted blockbuster that has little personality of its own except on a purely visual level. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
Devolves into a repetitive comedy that squanders a hugely talented cast. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Mr. Silberling has made a movie that's far rougher in texture and tone than Mr. Handler's books, but while he doesn't have the author's sense of whimsy (or irony) he manages to construct a pleasantly watchable entertainment in all the spaces in the story not laid siege to by Mr. Carrey. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
What the movie lacks, alarmingly, is a shriveled black heart, or a big, red tell-tale one pulsing beneath the floorboards -- anything, really, that might infuse it with the sense of true dread that keeps kids coming back for second, third and 11th helpings of the willies. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderHank Sartin
Episodic but entertaining fantasy. Read full review
60
SalonStephanie Zacharek
As it ticks by, laboriously, it leaves you feeling that you should be enjoying it more than you are. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Isn't nearly as cheerily unpleasant as it ought to be. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
I walked out of it feeling much the same way I did after "The Cat in the Hat" and "The Polar Express" -- jarred by its excess, undernourished by its lack of heart and bored by its lack of originality. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Ends up being one of those heartbreaking movies that gets off to a promising start but never quite creaks to life, despite everyone's obvious best efforts. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Silberling and writer Robert Gordon have made the fatal error of trying to jolly up the novels, which are often funny but never, ever cute. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
In Robert Gordon's script, Handler's hilariously literate bouts of psychological torture develop no consistent tone, voice or momentum. Read full review
50
SlateDavid Edelstein
Underwhelming. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Jim Carrey is the prime offender here. He's such an unseemly showoff that the movie keeps stopping in its tracks.
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
I hate to sound per-Snickety, but this lemon of a movie is a sadly unfortunate event. Read full review
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